What is the good will of a loyal allied country worth to the
Obama administration? We are talking about a European nation that
has stood by the United States in solidarity as few have since
Sept. 11, 2001 -- one with 2,000 troops in Afghanistan and a
possible willingness to step up to commit more troops at a time
when others want to pull out.

The answer, very unfortunately, seems to be that relations with
trusted allies are taken for granted in Washington these days. On
diplomacy with Europe, the Obama administration has a terrible tin
ear. Nowhere was this more evident than in the shabby treatment
accorded Poland, which the administration has sought to remedy.

The Polish 70th anniversary commemorations of the beginning of
World War II take place in Gdansk today. This unfortunately
involves the latest in a long series of U.S. snubs felt keenly in
Poland. On Sept. 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, resulting in
six years of war in Europe, the Holocaust and the deaths of 20
million people. The leaders of Russia, Germany, Britain, France,
Italy and other countries will attend the ceremony, presided over
by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The head of the United States
government -- unbelievably -- will be absent.

The Polish government sent out the invitation three months ago
to the White House, but an answer was received only on Wednesday, a
mere five days before the ceremony. Repeated attempts over the
summer by the Poles to contact the White House and the State
Department met with a long period of silence. One White House aide
actually replied that everyone was on vacation until after Labor
Day, which caused a Polish official to say he apologized that Adolf
Hitler had invaded his country on Sept. 1.

The initial answer from the White House almost defied belief.
The head of the official U.S. delegation was not to be a member of
the Obama administration but former Clinton defense Secretary
William J. Perry. Over the weekend, a change was announced, and the
U.S. delegation is to be headed by National Security Adviser Gen.
James L. Jones. Gen. Jones will head the U.S. delegation, rather
than President Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. or
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gen. Jones will stand
alongside Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Anyone want
to play "who doesn't belong in this picture?"

The lack of understanding of European history and sensitivities
was not lost on the Polish chattering classes. They have been in a
justifiable uproar over this mother of all snubs, feeling a mixture
of humiliation and neglect. For an administration that pledged to
prioritize public diplomacy, this treatment of an ally was
appalling. Unsurprisingly, popular opinion of the United States
took a serious nose dive in Poland.

Already, the Obama administration's warm embrace of the
relationship with Russia has been a cause for concern among Central
and East European governments. As a consequence, intellectuals and
former politicians of those countries published a letter in July,
after the summit between Mr. Obama and Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev, saying "all is not well in the trans-Atlantic
relationship. Central and Eastern Europe is at a political
crossroads, and today there is a growing sense of nervousness in
the region." This serious warning, rather than being taken to
heart, caused offense in Washington.

Also, the Obama administration's apparent attempts to use plans
for "the third site" for U.S. missile defense (in Poland and the
Czech Republic) as a bargaining chip to win Russian support for
sanctions on Iran have gone down very poorly in Poland. The Polish
government, after all, went out on a limb to secure the deal with
the former Bush administration in hopes of upgrading defense
cooperation between the two countries.

Finally, bitterness has persisted among Poles over the U.S. visa
regime, which waives visa requirements for short-term visa stays in
the United States for most European nationalities -- but not Poles.
Following recent U.S. legislation, other Central and East European
countries, including the Czech Republic and Lithuania, Latvia and
Estonia, have provisionally joined the visa-waiver program. The
Poles, though, still run afoul of U.S. rules on overstays by
visitors.

Is it too late to salvage U.S.-Polish relations? Maybe not, but
it clearly will take a greater effort on the part of the Obama
administration. Mr. Obama's election was greeted with huge
enthusiasm by young Poles, as by most Europeans, and he is supposed
to be visiting Poland next year. In other words, there is something
to build on if the White House chooses to do so. Though Gen. Jones
remains below the rank of a head of state, the belated upgrade of
the delegation to the commemoration in Gdansk was at least a
start.

Helle
Dale is senior fellow for public diplomacy at the Heritage
Foundation.